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Once Phil gets into a building he sticks up a Section 144 notice in the window. Squatting in residential buildings became a criminal offence in 2012, and squatters headed for commercial properties instead.

Following public concern about the harm trespassers can cause, new legislation was introduced in the form of Section 144 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act.

An offence is now committed where a person occupies a residential building having entered it as a trespasser. The legislation seeks to protect residential property owners and councils who discover trespassers living in residential buildings they own or control.

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While residential property owners are in a much better position than they were, the situation for owners of commercial property is worse.

Mike has somewhere to live but likes to visit his friends in the squat (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

Phil explained: "As long as you put that sign on the window you are covered. You will always get first contact with the police, but that’s a good sign because it is done then and it is out of the way and you don’t have to worry about it.

"With a bank like Barclays, getting a squatter out of one of their old buildings they’re not using is very low down on their priority list. It just depends how long they want to rush it through."

Why and how they were taken to court

Both Phil and Ryan were squatting at the former sweet shop on Mutley Plain before being turfed out.

However, Ryan explained by being cooperative and respectful they got a better deal out of the situation.

Phil says there are golden rules to squatting and his own rules too (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

They had been living there for about two-and-a-half months before the landlord decided to re-lease the building.

"They found out we were here and started the civil court proceedings," Ryan said. "We went to court to find out what was going on. A lot of people wouldn't, they would just move out the day before the court date.

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He said: "Buildings are not secure; they are empty and become derelict. They are just left. People just forget about them. It makes no sense.

"There was a massive crash in the property market but it is slowly picking back up. People have invested in buildings and are now waiting for the prices to go back up. So they just get left empty.

Ryan used to take drugs everyday on the streets (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

"It winds me up walking around the streets and seeing homeless guys asleep in the doorways in their sleeping bags in the rain and the cold, when there is an empty building behind them. They could gain access to that and live there.

"A lot of people just don’t have the knowledge or the enthusiasm. They just don’t care anymore because they have been on the streets for so long."

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As well as having golden rules for squatting, Phil says he also keeps to certain rules within the building he is living.

Ryan was on the streets taking all manner or drugs before Phil spotted him, which is why heroin and crack is banned from the squat.

"I am Ryan’s surrogate dad now," he said. "His squat dad."

Phil is a talented musician and spends a lot of time busking (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

He added: "We survive a lot from bin diving and upcycling. People believe in this concept that you have to have loads of money to live and survive. If you know what you’re doing you can live pretty much free.

"We spend very, very little money. But it is circumstantial, like if I want to make plans. I like to travel quite a lot.

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"We woke up one morning and it was raining, but we got on the ferry to Torpoint, walked to the Tamar Bridge and then back again through all the fields, doing roly-polies down the wet grass.

"That cost us absolutely nothing and we had a great day. You don’t need money to do things and be active."

They have even had visitors. Not long ago a group of University of Plymouth marine engineering students knocked on the door and asked if they could come in.

"They seemed like pretty decent people so I said yes," Ryan said. "They were here until about 3am in the morning and we had an absolutely blast of a time. They enjoyed themselves, had fun and thanked us for letting them in.

"You meet lasting friends when you are squatting, if people are willing to embrace you and accept you for your lifestyle."

The law

The local neighbourhood beat manager for Devon and Cornwall Police told The Herald many squats are attached to anti-social behaviour, and it is then the police will get involved.

He added both Phil and Ryan have been cooperative, and even let them in to have a look around.

"We are unable to go in and evict them," the beat manager explained, "that is not our role.

"But if they are causing anti-social behaviour and we get complains then we will deal with those issues.

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"We make the landlords aware of the issue, and it is their job to go through the courts and attempt to obtain a court order."

Plymouth-based solicitors Thompson and Jackson say although it has been widely reported that recent changes to the law make squatting in residential premises a criminal offence for the first time, this is not strictly true.

The two squatters were inside the former Retros sweet shop (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

There are old vaults in the basement of the former bank (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

"Refusing to leave a property when requested by a ‘displaced residential occupier’ has been a criminal offence for more than 30 years," they say on their website, "and the theft of someone else’s electricity etc and causing damage to a property are also criminal acts.

"The new laws on squatting only apply to residential buildings, not land in general, and they only apply to those who are living or intending to live in the property in which they squat, not to transient occupiers.

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"If a property you own is occupied by squatters, persuading the police to take action can be a difficult job and it is crucially important to be able to demonstrate conclusively your right to take action to recover your property. Do not be surprised if the squatters claim that you have entered into a lease with them, and be prepared to refute such claims and have the necessary proof available at the beginning."

When contacted by The Herald, a spokesman for Barclays said: "The Mutley Plain branch was closed three months ago and we are aware it is being occupied.

"We are managing the situation with the appropriate care and sensitivity."

'I feel like a king'

Thousands of people used to bank at the Barclays branch on Mutley Plain.

But it closed earlier this year after numbers using it dropped significantly.

Bosses said before its closure only 33 customers would regularly use the bank without interacting with Barclays in any other way.

And in the 12 months prior to its closure, 81 per cent of customers were using other branches.

Now it is an empty building looking for a new occupier.

The temperature drops in the basement (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

In the meantime, two squatters have made it their temporary home, until they are moved on.

With a television, music system, instruments, a table and chairs – and even electricity, it feels much like any home would.

Except that is just in one room of the four-floor building. The basement tells a different story.

Down a set of steps and the temperature drops. Wooden shelves are propped up against the walls with values of money written on labels stuck to the edges.

Around a corner and you are under the pavement of Mutley Plain itself. If you look up through a glass panel, you can see people’s feet walking above you.

The police have looked around the squat (Image: Paul Slater Images Ltd)

Back up the flights of stairs – once used by ordinary people making their way to meet a bank manager in the rooms above – you will eventually reach the staff quarters.

A large kitchen leads onto a roof terrace, with views of the River Tamar and beyond.